1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to tools for the subsurface installation of wires, cables and flexible conduits used for communications and security or invisible fences. The tools include a surface penetration portion at one end and a handle at the other. The tools are hollow and are designed to convey a wire or cable therethrough as they are pulled through a penetrable surface material such as soil, sand, wet concrete and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
A number of machines and hand held tools have been developed for the subsurface installation of elongated electrical wires and cables and fiber optic cables. Machines for installing subsurface wires and cables are generally of two types. A first type is designed to make surface cuts in soil to form elongated open slits or trenches in which wire or cable is laid by feeding the wire or cable from a supply reel to a discharge guide which is mounted so as to be in trailing relationship with respect to a soil cutter. Many such machines are prohibitively expensive or are too large, heavy or complex to make them well suited for certain types of subsurface wire or cable installations.
The other type of subsurface installation machine is designed to introduce wire or cable through the soil by burrowing beneath the soil without cutting through the surface. Such machines for feeding cable through the subsurface without topsoil penetration are quite elaborate and costly, and such machines require a great deal of expertise and manpower to effectively place the cable or wire.
In many situations, it is preferred to use a hand held device for the placement of at least portions of subsurface wires and cables. Also, in many instances, it is desired that a subsurface wire or cable be placed in relative close proximity to the soil surface thus requiring a minimal cut to be made in the soil to provide an open trench in which to place cable or wire. In these instances, the use of heavy machinery is not economical. Further, the use of machinery often disturbs adjacent soil areas and it is often desirable to place subsurface wires and cables in such a manner so as to minimize disruption or damage to adjacent surface areas.
Therefore, a number of hand held wire and cable installation tools have been developed for installing wires or cables, such as used in communication, security or invisible fencing systems.
Most conventional hand held tools are designed with a wire or cable feed end portion and a handle element. The wire is generally fed through the body of the tool which is hollow or contains a:n elongated open channel. The wire or cable is fed from the handle end toward the discharge or feed end and thus, in many instances, there is a requirement to splice wire or cable along its length when it is desired to place an intermediate segment of a continuous portion of a wire or cable due to the need to feed the wire or cable from one end of the tool to the other.
In view of the foregoing, there remains a need to provide a relatively inexpensive and minimally ground invasive hand tool which can be used to place or install subsurface wiring either in soft materials such as sand, gravel, wet cement and the like or within pre-cut trenches or slits created by conventional soil cutting tools and machines.
There is a further need to provide for inexpensive and yet easily used hand tools for subsurface wire or cable placement wherein the tools are capable of placing intermediate sections of continuous lines, wires or cables without requiring feeding of the wires or cables from one end of a tool to another end.
The present invention is directed to hand held tools for the subsurface installation of wires, cables and the like wherein the tools include a first end having a ground penetrating portion adjacent to which is a discharge opening through which wire or cable being placed is discharged as the tools are moved through subsurface soil which is either pre-cut or loose, such as sand and gravel. The tools further include a handle portion which, is some preferred embodiments, may include a grip to facilitate handling during use.
The body of each tool includes an open channel which extends from the handle end of the tool to the discharge opening. In preferred embodiments, wire or cable is inserted within the tool through a serpentined or tortuous opening or slot formed in a sidewall of the tool body, such that a segment of wire or cable may be inserted through the opening or slot into the channel without having to feed the wire or cable from one end of the tool to the other. The configuration of the opening prevents accidental displacement of the wire or cable laterally of the channel during use of the tool.
In a first embodiment, the tool body is formed of a tubular structure of a size or dimension to be easily grasped in an installer""s hand. The tortuous opening is formed as a serpentined slot in a side wall of the tubular structure which slot extends from one end of the tool body to the other.
In another embodiment, the tool body is formed of a metallic or plastic material which is rolled or molded into a somewhat tubular configuration and such that projections extending from opposing elongated edges of the body interdigitate in spaced relationship with one another to thereby define a tortuous elongated opening through which wire or cable may be inserted laterally into an open channel defined within the body.
The tools may be made in differing sizes and supplemental handles may be provided for permitting use of the tools from a standing position to further facilitate the placement of wires and cables by installers.
It is the primary object of the invention to provide inexpensive, lightweight and easily manipulated hand tools for subsurface placement of wires and cables within loose materials such as sand, gravel, soils, non set cement and the like.
It is another object of the invention to provide hand held tools for subsurface placement of cables and wires which can be used to install intermediate segments of elongated sections of wire or cable without having to feed the wire or cable from one end to another end of the tools, such that selected segments of wire or cable can be easily inserted laterally within the tools for installation.
It is a further object of the invention to provide hand held tools for subsurface placement of wires, cables and the like wherein the tools may be utilized either as a short hand tool or can be mounted on supplemental handles allowing use of the tools by installers from a standing position.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide hand held tools which may be utilized to place single or multiple strands of wires and cables simultaneously.